I got the Retro PC itch last week and decided to try and build a windows XP/DOS system using an i5 3570K CPU. (Sorry for the long post but its been so fun)
CPU: Intel i5 3570K
MOBO: ASUS PBZ77-V
RAM - 2x4GB PC3-10600U-9-11 DDR3 (I know Windows XP 32-bit only recognizes 4GB of RAM however I wanted the RAM to run in Dual Channel so I left both in as it will still use memory from both sticks just not the full 8GB)
GPU - ASUS Geforce RTX 660 2GB
SOUND - Ensoniq AudioPCI 1370
PSU - 500W L&C B500E
SSD - Crucial BX500 2.5 SSD 240GB
ODD - Generic SATA DVD ROM from Lenovo SFF PC
OS - Windows XP 32-bit SP3, DOS 6.22
My first mistake was not using a separate drive for DOS but I'll get to that...
XP installation was a breeze. I had to set my BIOS to CSM, and SDD to IDE mode to avoid any compatibility issues. (Yes I know you can use drivers for AHCI mode but I didn't want to go there) . I partitioned the drive to use most of the 240GB but left a few Gigs for DOS. (First mistake). Once in windows I used Snappy driver to install most of the drivers except for video. Installed the appropriate .Net Framework and the video drivers (They need SP3 and .Net framework) even though I don't use GF experience, the install wouldn't proceed unless I meet the requirements for it. Anyway, long story short, the XP install was successful, no issues. Runs any XP era game very well, silky smoothe. I was even able to use an old Nvidia Inspector to limit FPS to avoid using VSYNC. The GTX 560/660/760 are great XP GPU's.
DOS was a whole other animal.
So I used my DOS 6.22 CD boot disk to run FDISK and partition the remaining space to 2GB for DOS. No issues, and I formatted the C: drive to be bootable. Here is where problems began. DOS likes to be the first OS installed because of something to do with the MBR... I don't know... all I know is it messed up the XP boot process so I couldn't boot back into XP without having to repair the install. The way I would change between OS's was to use FDISK to select my active partition when I wanted to boot to either OS. I knew at this point though that I really should have used a second drive for DOS but I wanted to trouble shoot some things so I could tackle that later. So I carried on. Anyway, I was able to get DOS 6.22 running with no problems, however, getting the sound to work proved to be a problem. Despite installing everything properly, (ie; config.sys, Autoexec.bat) it appears the motherboard just does not support PCI sound cards emulating ISA soundcards. Something about the way the PCI card emulates ISA cards doesn't jive with more modern motherboards. (I think it has to do with the fact that there is no longer a way to reserve PCI slots for ISA emulation.) So once I figured that out I knew it was pointless to try to use a 2nd drive (which is the right thing to do anyway). But hey I was just messing around and It's good to know that even if you have a PCI slot, you might not be able to get DOS to work with sound even if the PCI card has the ability to emulate ISA sound cards in pure DOS. I would guess that anything 2006 and newer lacks this ability.
That being said I switched it up and tackled my Early XP rig instead, to make that a Windows 98/XP system.
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 Prescott 3.2Ghz (OC to 3.6Ghz)
MOBO: ASUS P4P800-X
RAM - 2x1GB PC3200 DDR 2.5-3-3-8 (Edited system.ini to limit win 98 to 512MB, also used the MEMPATCH to avoid errors)
GPU - ATI RADEON x800 PRO 256MB AGP
SOUND - Audigy 2 ZS
PSU - Corsair CX450
SSD - Crucial BX500 2.5 SSD 240GB
HDD - 40GB IDE (I don't remember the brand, it's old though but still works)
ODD - Generic SATA DVD ROM
OS - Windows XP 32-bit SP3, Windows 98 SE
XP installation was again a breeze. Once in windows XP I used Snappy driver again to install most of the drivers except for video and audio. Radeon x800 Drivers were the Omega drivers that came out during Catalyst 6.1. Again, the XP install was successful, no issues. Doom 3 benchmark was around 75-80fps with high settings, no AA.
Windows 98 was a bit trickier but I was able to get it going. I had to enter my bios and make some changes. Had to change IDE settings to compatibility so that my SATA drives would be recognized in DOS and Win98, Had to disable Hyperthreading for the CPU and enable MAX CPUID Value Limit then switch my active drive to the SATA one. Booted from win98 CD, ran FDISK, formatted c: /s, copied win98 directory on CD to Windows/options/cabs on C: so I could install without the CD.
I then had to copy edit.com and HIMEM.sys to the C:\. I then created a config.sys file that contained (Device=Himem.sys /M:1 /V). Once I did that I rebooted and ran the win 98 setup. It went well however it reached a point where it said I didn't have enough memory, this is where I edited the System.ini file to read only 512MB of RAM. Installation finished with no issues. Once I got into windows 98, I installed the MOBO drivers, Catalyst 6.2 for the GPU, Audigy2 drivers VXD with DOS support as per instructions I found here on VOGONS. I then copied over some old DOS games and installed 3DMAX 99. The dos games ran great, with SB16 emulation and the 8MB AUDIOPCI .ecw file. Unfortunately I could not get the Audigy to work in pure DOS mode despite following instructions.
Success though. A decent XP system that also runs Win98 and DOS games with GOOD FMSYMNTH EMULATION and ENSONIQ GENERAL MIDI!.
It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness, that is life.
